Mumbai taxis and autos go on strike against Uber, Ola etc

Mumbai: Commuters in the city may face trouble while hailing a cab or finding an auto-rickshaw as a taxi union has called for a strike on Monday against private cab aggregators like Uber and Ola. Nitish Rane, leader of Swabhiman taxi union and MLA from Kankavali, has called for  a one-day taxi and auto strike in protest against “illegal” private taxi aggregators, according to a Times of India report. “The day long strike which will end at 5 PM, is only an alarm to the state government and if our demands are not met, then the union would be forced to launch an intensive agitation,” said K K Tiwari, Mumbai President of Swabhiman Union.

So Tom Rickshaw Taxi strike is on.. For the existence of Black n yellow taxi n rickshaws..we gave time but no response..

— Nitesh Rane (@NiteshNRane) June 14, 2015

[caption id=“attachment_2287162” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP[/caption] “We had petitioned the state government and given them a list of demands last week, but in vain. We were not called for any discussions, which is why we plan to go ahead with the agitation,” the report quoted KK Tiwari of Swabhiman Union as saying. Earlier, it had dashed off a letter to Maharashtra transport commissioner with a copy to state transport minister Diwakar Raote and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on June 9, demanding to ban the entry of mobile application driven cabs such as Uber, Ola, Meru Plus etc. The Union in the said letter had threatened to go on a strike from 15 June if their their demands were not met. “We have even got the support from rickshaw and taxi owners who are not our members, because we have raised issues that cater to their demand too,” Tiwari said. The taxi and auto strike on a Monday might cause inconvenience to Mumbai’s office-goers, especially as monsoon has hit the city. Tiwari said that it was illegal for private taxi aggregators to ply their trade as it had become impossible for black and yellow taxis to get long distance customers. According to a Mumbai Mirror report, Tiwari found through an RTI application that many private cab aggregators do not have relevant permits from the transport department. Nitish Rane has been vocal on Twitter against private taxi aggregators and showed support for Mumbai’s ‘Kaali Peelis’. He called black and yellow cabs the identity of Mumbai and tweeted that he would let them fade away.

Black n yellow taxis hv been th identity of Mumbai city 4 generations nw..can we just c them disappear 1 day Becz of these illegal pvt cabs?

— Nitesh Rane (@NiteshNRane) June 14, 2015

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However, according to a Times of India report, the biggest taxi union of the city led by AL Quadros has opposed the strike and appealed all taxis and autos to come out and ply their trade “fearlessly”. The largest auto union in the city led by Shashank Rao has said it to0 will go on strike from 17June. The ‘Swabhiman Union’ claims it has 18,000 auto rickshaw owners and 12,000 taxi owners as its members. With inputs from PTI